Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World

by Rees; John

• ISBN13: 9780415691031
• ISBN10: 0415691036
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2012-04-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

War and revolution, economic crises and political conflict are the very stuff of modern history. This guide to the last 100 years of great power conflict, social rebellion, strikes and protests gives us the essential history of the world in which we live. Based on the Timeline TV series this is a rapid and accessible guide for those who want to know how power is exercised, by who, and for what purposes in the modern world. From the rise and fall of great empires in two world wars, the Cold War and the 'war on terror' through to the rise of China Timelines describes the shifts in the imperial structure of the world. And it looks at the impact of those changes in the conflict zones of the 21stcentury, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Finally Timelineslooks at moments of popular resistance, from the Russian and Spanish revolutions to the fall of Apartheid in the 1990s and the ongoing socialist experiment that is Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. We live in turbulent times. These essays show us how we got here and outline the forces that are going to shape the history of the 21stcentury.

Author Biography

John Rees' books include The Algebra of Revolution, Imperialism and Resistance, Strategy and Tactics and The People Demand a Short History of the Arab Revolutions (with Joseph Daher). He is a member of the Editorial Board of Counterfire and a co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. x
Abbreviations	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
The rise and fall of great powers	p. 7
The First World War	p. 7
The revolutions that made Russia	p. 11
The consequences of the First World War	p. 18
The rise of Fascism	p. 26
The Spanish Civil War	p. 34
The real history of the Second World War	p. 39
The Cold War	p. 54
The rise of China	p. 64
Obama and US power	p. 71
Empire and after	p. 80
Afghanistan	p. 80
The Iranian Revolution	p. 88
Palestine	p. 94
The Vietnam War	p. 102
The Iraq War and the Iraq Inquiry	p. 110
Ireland	p. 117
A short history of immigration in Britain	p. 126
The rulers and the ruled	p. 135
Recessions and resistance	p. 135
The Civil Rights Movement	p. 144
1968: the year that changed the world	p. 154
South Africa's struggle for freedom	p. 160
Thatcherism	p. 167
The revolutions of 1989	p. 174
Hugo Chavez's Revolution	p. 180
Student revolts	p. 187
Conclusion: the first decade of the twenty-first century	p. 194
Further reading	p. 201
Index	p. 207
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